


Supernova

by corvidae9



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Character death (of neither N/L), F/M, Gen, Hopeful Ending, angry!Ginny, hellhound!Luna, hero!Neville
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-10-03
Updated: 2006-10-03
Packaged: 2018-10-20 01:06:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10651797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/corvidae9/pseuds/corvidae9
Summary: Luna becomes a weapon of mass destruction and Neville discovers what it's like to be the hero.





	Supernova

**Author's Note:**

> Written for summer-flinging and originally posted as my alter-ego, basil_assaulted. I love hellhound!Luna and Hero-of-the-Wizarding-World!Neville, I hope you do, too.

The bright flash of light reflected off of the broken sections of plate glass window around him, and the young man ducked under a fallen section of the ceiling. The few stray wisps of sandy blond hair escaping the hood of his black sweatshirt were caked in dirt and what appeared to be too dark to be mud, his arm around a friend that was about to become a former friend if the depth of his labored breathing was any indication. Licking his lips, he looked up as the sounds of crunching footfalls approached, fingers tightening around his wand as he frantically whispered, "Shh" partially in comfort and partially in panic between attempts to Disapparate.

He was a master at Apparation these days, despite the things that people used to think about him, but this time it was the wards that had been built into the structure that kept him from being able to escape, his friend's weight keeping him from sprinting away on foot. Instead, he hunkered down among the large pieces of rubble in the corner of the room, using suspension spells to pull the largest bits down further down around him and then set up the best and strongest Imperturbables that he knew. And then, he waited.

Surely enough the long sweep of a black robe came into view through the small chink he'd left to be able to see out of, heavy footfalls accompanied by at least four more sets of dark boots, the most petite sporting a large, dark blue bow around the left ankle. He held his breath as the raspy voice spoke, booming in the small room, sending shudders down the blond's spine and making him sick to his stomach.

"Find them, Pet."

The petite boots stepped forward with surprising grace, as Pet placed one behind the other and spun around in a circle, her voice detached and muzzy. "You've killed one, my lord, except I think that was maybe really Lady Bellatrix. The other..."

Suddenly she had dropped into a crouch and was staring directly at the blond man through the slats in the rubble, her huge silver-blue eyes dilated so far as to nearly have no visible pupils, a thick spiral of dishwater blonde hair of her own falling down across her face and half-covering one. Her jaw dropped, brow knit, mouth working murmuring just under her breath, "I used to know a boy that looked like a dead boy, but when the world ended, he didn't come."

The young man in the rubble stared, his heart at a dead stand still as he stared into her eyes; a view that was suddenly gone as the thin chain that he hadn't seen before was yanked taut, pulling her up by the intricate necklace she wore. Another woman's voice this time, a familiar voice, akin to the sound of nails on slate.

"What about him, little mad girl? Where is he now?"

The soft airy voice answered again in an unconcerned tone, though the man in the rubble could see that her heels were off of the ground, her legs straight as if being pulled too high by what he realized was a collar around her neck. "The boy I knew, mistress? He's far gone. You won't find him today. There's only the dead boy now, and the dead boy will never come back unless our Lord wants him for a puppet. Would you like him for a puppet, sir? _That_ dead boy is far way but this one is still warm."

Her Lord spoke again. "Find him, Bellatrix. Longbottom was yours to destroy and yet he's defied you again. Do not return until you come bearing his head."

Bellatrix (nails on slate) spoke, voice desperate, "But my lord--"

"FIND HIM. Until he is dead, _YOU_ are dead to me."

With a deep breath that sounded like a sob, Bellatrix shook Pet and released her seemingly without warning. The blond girl fell in a heap where her eyes could seek out the man in the rubble again, her voice just barely over a whisper. "I knew a dead boy once that cared about toads and flowers. I wonder if any of the new ones do, too..."

The man in the rubble knew she'd recognized him as exactly the Longbottom Bellatrix was looking for, and yet by all appearances was protecting him. Neville shuddered, his mouth open as her gaze continued to bore into him; why she hadn't given him up was unfathomable, and went against every piece of intelligence they'd gathered on her to date.

"Be careful with my Pet, Bella. I went through great lengths to acquire for her the gifts you couldn't pray to match."

Bellatrix's voice was low and Neville was taken aback by the insubordinate tone. "The dead have little use for caution, Lord. When I return, I'll have more than she could ever give you."

Neville watched her stalk off, only her boots visible behind Pet, as inexplicably, the young woman broke into a wide, wide grin. "My Lord, the Longbottom that Bellatrix is hunting hunts her, as well." She scurried suddenly forward and dropped one knee onto the ground, reaching into the through the crack in the rubble, her cool hand touching Neville's cheek. He recoiled, biting his lip, not knowing what to expect. Her thumbnail ran across the cut at his temple and he bit back a hiss of pain as the blood began to flow again. "It's not a prophecy as much a fact - only one will walk away."

She brought her bloodied thumb away back through the crack and ran it across the top of her right cheek and then her left, a twisted sort of warpaint, smiling ecstatic as she applied the final line. Dipping her thumb in her mouth, she spoke around it to the Dark Lord, even as her eyes stayed riveted on Neville. "The Longbottom she wants is far gone, lord. The Longbottom she gets will not be a dead boy." Her expression fell, her voice suddenly pained. "Also, this dead boy was a good hit from close up because he was scared and it made him careless."

The Dark Lord rumbled, amused from the sound of it, "Stand, Pet. We've work to do. Is the _dead boy_ here of any consequence?"

The girl blew a soft kiss into the crack and stood, and then all he could see were her boots again, the blue ribbon flopping with obscene cheer. "Finch-Fletchley, Hufflepuff, class of '98, healer for the Order of the Phoenix, Longbottom's left hand, since Ginny Weasley is his right. Bella broke his heart all to pieces."

Neville looked down to see Justin's wide eyes unblinking, a steady stream of blood leaking from the corner of his mouth. He sucked in a quietly horrified breath, every muscle in his body protesting from the effort of not moving; barely even breathing.

The chain clinked as the petite boots moved closer to the long cloak, her steps a shuffling soft shoe, oblivious to the rubble around them. "Taking trophies now, Pet? Should I have Rabastan take something else from him for you?"

"No thank you, my lord. I have what I need and unnecessary things are what are left behind first, are they not?"

All Neville could hear was a sharp, hissed intake of breath and a little gasp as the chain clinked further. "Come. Your work is not done for the day."

"All work is play and that's a Ravenclaw's favorite kind of day!"

There was a rumble among the other two henchmen that had heretofore said nothing, and the group moved away, boots crunching again through glass and mortar before finally fading to silence. Neville waited for what felt like forever before hazarding any move at all, his arm still around Justin's chest, tongue hard in his cheek trying not to sob or scream.

Eventually he did move, using yet another spell to shift the rubble and let himself out, taking Justin's wand and shutting his eyes before letting the rubble fall in over him. Necessity dictated the wand; the rubble was the best and most respectful burial Neville could give him.

Crawling out, he cast a Disillusionment charm on himself. It wasn't much, but it was what he had, and shimmering in the flickering light of broken magical lights, he made his way through the bombed-out Minstry of Magic building. He made it to the secondary Apparation point on the erstwhile Auror level and the moment he felt the edge of the wards, he Apparated directly back to their Headquarters in the basement of the farmhouse at Leeds, falling to his knees and burying his face in his hands.

Immediately Ginny was facing him, pushing the hood of his sweatshirt back, frowning as she caught sight of the bleeding. She pushed his hair back from his temple more gently than she had the sweatshirt and peered into his eyes. "Neville? Damn it all, look at me."

Neville looked up, his eyes wet, voice broken. "I saw Luna, Gin. She-- "

"Don't. Don't you say her name. Don't you even."

"--saved me, Gin. She touched me and didn't tell Him where I was."

Ginny stiffened even as he wrapped his arms around her middle, breathing stilted against her stomach through half-sobs. "He keeps her on a _leash_ , Ginny. That's not what they told us."

"Oh? And was she trying to escape? Trying to hurt them?"

"Gin--"

Ginny peeled his hands from around her waist and threw them back at him. "Then she's exactly what they said she was and don't you fucking _dare_ make excuses for her."

"Listen to me--"

"She's his _bloodhound_ , Neville. She hunted down Remus for him. And Vector and Snape, and Susan and _Harry_ for fuck's sake. Harry and Ron and Hermione, Neville."

Neville stood, hanging his head, no longer able to argue. "Justin's gone. Someone should tell his family."

A choked inhale from Ginny was all the reaction he got. Voice tight, she answered, "The rest of his family left the country four months ago."

Straightening his spine, Neville made for the stairs that led up to the kitchen, stomach twisting, heart aching. "Then I guess you'd better send an owl."

###

Neville had found her the morning it had begun, in her pyjamas on the floor of the downstairs sitting room of Twelve Grimmauld Place. Already calling for her as he ran up and crouched next to her, he pushed the hair back from her face and saw that her eyes were not shut. Instead, they were rolled upward as far they could go, and his breath caught in his throat until he saw she was in fact breathing, too. "Luna! Oh god-- Luna?

He turned her gently onto her side, jumping in time with her gasp as her elbow came back, hand coming away from the floorboards with a wet crackling sort of sound. Luna mumbled, "Hands hurt. Full of fire..."

Peering at the edges of peeled skin of her palm and raw flesh underneath, Neville winced, taking her wrist and cradling her hand carefully, hissing, "No!" even as she pulled the other one up with the same sickening sound and another whimper. "How, Luna? Who did this?"

Her huge eyes were filled with tears, just now beginning to spill down the side of her nose as she tried to sit up, leaning on the elbow closest the ground. "I don't know. I was-- I-- there was-- I don't know. Fire so white it was almost blue."

Neville helped her carefully up into a sitting position and pulled her against him, one arm around her, the other pushing the hair back from her forehead and inspecting her eyes, her face for any other sign of injury. "How'd you get here?"

"I--" Luna peered, almost pleading, before setting her elbow on his shoulder, forearm pressed to the side of his head, palm carefully in the air, the other hanging over his back. "I don't know. I was dreaming."

"Oh for God's sake, get a room, people. As if there weren't enough around here," muttered Ginny as she walked past the open doorway, her footsteps stopping and restarting as she came into view again. "Wh--" Ginny ran up, her eyes widening as she caught sight of Luna's upturned palm. Meeting Neville's gaze over Luna's shoulder, she leaned in, peering at Luna, immediately reaching to pet her hair. "What happened?"

Luna merely shook her head and buried it further against Neville, who shot a lost look at Ginny as he tightened his arms around her. "She doesn't know. I just-- found her here."

Jaw set, Ginny immediately began scanning the room as she backed away. "I'm getting Remus."

"Kitchen pantry. He can't find his tea because Justin finished it," mumbled Luna.

"How--" Neville asked, brow knit.

For the first time that Neville ever remembered seeing, Luna loosed a heavy sob, crying as she repeated, "I don't know."

###

"Neville wake up. My brain is broken wide open except everything is seeping in instead of out. I'm scared."

Neville's eyes flew open, his narrow bed, suddenly crowded by Luna shoving herself under his blanket and curling into his side. "I Saw where Harry, Ron and Hermione are," whispered Luna. "I've never seen it before, but I could see them, Neville. In a graveyard- a crypt, they were digging out a body and Hermione's hand was on Ron's back, her wand was on the entry, and then the ground under the tomb fell open and there were stairs-- they all went down the stairs and I can tell you that there was a Horcrux there, but I don't even know what that is, and I know it smelled of sage and, purpurea and lavender."

Lifting a hand to pet Luna's unusually warm hair carefully, he murmured, "Just a dream, Luna. Can stay here with me if you want, though." Neville shifted and tightened his grip around his friend, but she immediately swatted his hand away and leaned up on an elbow, poking at his closing eyelids.

"I know dreams, Neville, this was not one. This was a vision, a bright, real vision, as real as I know that right now you smell like you've been steeped in Pureblood and left out to gain full potency, and you're so close to growing into all of the power that I can taste it on the air, and you were just dreaming about a woman who's face I can't see, but she had breasts and a soft bottom and a pink nightgown and blond hair and--"

"Luna, stop!" he scrubbed his face with his hand, peering at her, knowing that was exactly what he'd been seeing in his subconscious, and that it was the last thing he'd want her to see. It didn't matter what he might want for himself after all; not right now. "Christ. Are they ok?"

Luna nodded, they're..." She looked up, her eyes momentarily unfocused. "They're fine right now-- they... that's all I know."

"...how?"

"I don't...it's like... like I've skipped a stone across and gone along with it-- I can.. I can hear Ginny dreaming of proper Quidditch right now-- I know Professor McGonagall's downstairs-- except it's a mess, and I can't choose what I'm seeing... Except, I guess that's capitalized Seeing, now... I'm trying to tell myself I'm imagining it, but I know I'm not." Her hands tightened around Neville as she fell against him again and burrowed her face into his shoulder. "I wish I was imagining it. Neville, tell me I'm imagining it. I'd believe you if you said so because you've never lied to me. Not once. Am I imagining it?"

Worried, jaw set, Neville blinked slowly as his arms slid higher up around her back. "You've never once imagined anything like this, love."

###

Neville wandered Headquarters searching for Luna, and by the time he'd found her, everyone in the house knew he was looking. He'd finally run out onto the back step, desperate, only to find her on her back in the grass, staring up into the night sky. Clutching his chest, he swore under his breath and took a step back to poke his head back through the door and shout, "Found her. We're ok."

With that, he walked out to meet her, standing over her head and looking down in mock reproach. "Waiting for something specific, Lu?"

She grinned and held her hands up to him, though if it hadn't been so dark already he might have noticed the dark circles under her eyes. "A Leo, year of the Monkey. He likes plants. Have you seen him? He's quite nice."

He couldn't help a smile as he bent to press his palms to hers. "I know that bloke. Little too round and clumsy for his own good. Tends to send his amphibious minion on missions that are so top secret, not even he knows what they are?"

With a small laugh, Luna bent her elbows slightly and then pressed back up against his hands; a friendly transfer of energy and motion. "Ah. The brave Agent T. Going where no toad has gone before. But he never brings back souvenirs."

Neville smiled, but had no clever answer as he peered more closely. "Alright, Luna?"

"I'm going to let your hands go," said Luna, expression unchanged. "And then you'll sprawl here and watch with me. Don't fall."

Knowing better than to argue with her, Neville nodded and straightened, settling himself on his back next to her on the soft ground, pillowing his head on his hands. "Done. What's out tonight? You know I'm pants at Astronomy."

Luna's voice went a little flat as she lifted her hand into the air, tracing something indistinct. "I don't know what's out, either because all I see are shapes that don't belong. A heavy moon, a large predator and a faithful dog; the dark swirling like a beacon... don't know who it's calling, but it's whispering things that sound like my name. And Agent T is sitting in Justin's underwear drawer, though I've no idea what sort of mission that might accomplish."

Neville lifted his head a little to look at Luna, who was still staring up into inky sky. Unbending the arm closest to her, he slid it under her without resistance, settling his hand on the side of her head. It'd been three weeks since he'd found her downstairs and she was still seeing... whatever she'd started seeing. Maybe worse - she spent her time these days finding lost things, calling people out on what they'd just been thinking; giving them disjointed reports on agents in the field. Sometimes she crawled into bed with Neville if she made it that far because she'd have nightmares that seemed to be the only thing she couldn't articulate properly, and no one knew why or how. He cleared his throat and said, "it's my firm contention that no one but Justin has any mission there, and even then, it's dodgy."

With a small laugh, Luna curled closer. "I suppose you're out of luck if you want to get him, then. He'll be there all night."

Sighing, Neville stroked her hair and murmurmed, "Nah. He'll just go wherever he wants to go at any rate."

Later, Neville kicked himself about Luna's reply over and over, though there was no logical way he could have constructed something meaningful or helpful in stopping what happened next. It took years before he stopped hearing her voice, unnaturally small and murmuring right back, "I don't remember what that's like."

At the time, he'd felt the same way.

###

Neville woke at half-six, standing and stretching and trying to place the feeling of dread that had settled deep in the pit of his stomach. Luna wasn't in bed with him, which meant she hadn't had nightmares, and the house seemed quieter than it ought, but that was likely a product of his ever-present paranoia. He scrubbed a hand through his hair and padded to the bathroom, used the toilet, brushed his teeth... and suddenly dashed down the corridor to knock on Luna's door.

These days paranoia was warranted more often than not. Moody said it kept you alive.

No one answered. He turned the handle, unsurprised to find it unlocked. The surprise came in the form of the fact that Luna's bed was perfectly made and untouched. Releasing the door, Neville walked in and made a quick circuit of the room, calling for her to no avail. He ran down the stairs heart leaping when he heard sounds in the kitchen, and sinking again when he saw that it was Justin putting the kettle on.

"Justin. Have you seen Luna?"

Justin regarded Neville over his shoulder unconcernedly. "Is this a different 'have you seen Luna' than it was last night?"

Neville threw up his hands, exasperated. "Yes, git. I did find her last night, remember?"

Shrugging, affecting more nonchalance than he felt, Justin turned his attention back to his tea. "Well, Longbottom, I can't be expected to keep track of your spacy blonde girlfriend. That's your job."

"She's not my _girlfriend_ , Justin," Neville muttered as he ran to the back door and peered out of the small window, though Luna was not to be found there, either.

"No? Odd. Of course, none of the women that crawl in my bed aren't my girlfriend either," Justin deadpanned as he turned and leaned on the counter, teacup in hand. "Oh. Wait - I don't have women crawling into my bed. They can't seem to find the house."

"Oh-- stuff it," said Neville, still muttering, as he ran his hands through his hair, trying to decide where to look next.

Justin sighed. "Mate, let me tell you. As your friend, and the voice of reason in this bloody madhouse, she is _interested_ , and crazy or not, you are too. So man up and do something about it while you can. At least one of us should be get--"

Eyes wide, Neville's head came up as he spun to look out of the window again, swearing as he fumbled with the locks and threw the door open. Justin cocked his head and pushed away from the counter, setting his cup down. "Nev...?"

Neville was kneeling at the back stoop, inspecting a dark splot, the shape of which was not discernible from where Justin stood. From where Neville crouched, however, its form was clear-- a small too-familiar handprint, somehow burnt into the landing. He fit his hand over it and his stomach dropped. "Luna."

Wand drawn, Justin crouched down and slapped Neville's hand away. "You don't know what that is." He poked at the mark with his wand, murmuring an array of detection spells, but Neville was already on his feet and dashing back into the house. Stopping at Remus' door, he knocked hard, panting from having run up the two flights of stairs, though the look of confusion on his face only deepened as the door swung open onto what appeared to be an empty, but very much slept-in room.

"Professor? R-remus?"

Neville swallowed hard and took a step forward, jumping as Justin slammed into his shoulder. "Nothing. It's just.. burnt. Though it had to be acid or magic. One guess which I vote... Where's Remus?"

"I don't know. The door was open..."

Pushing past him, Justin walked in and looked around, inspecting the night table, poking at the bed, looking under it, opening the wardrobe. "Shite. We'd better see if anyone knows where he went."

###

No one had. Not McGonagall, who came in to the house to help with tracking spells and still found nothing, went back to the castle and never arrived. Nor Snape, who was in too deep with the Death Eaters to be able to even weigh in. Not anyone.

Luna didn't turn up either, and as frightened as Neville was of not having anyone in charge, not a moment went by that he didn't think about her, or worry, or pray she'd make it home safely.

Four days after they disappeared, Neville sat at the writing desk in the study, head in his hands, when a voice too dark and detached for its own good spoke up. "I have something for you."

Nearly falling out of his seat with the speed at which he turned to face it, he found Luna standing in the doorway, holding a very small, flat package. Her hair was pulled up in an intricate twist, her wand for once not behind her ear and she was wearing proper wizarding robes rather than the Muggle clothes he was so used to seeing her in. He hesitated for only a moment before springing to his feet and crossed the room in three huge steps, engulfing her in a giant hug. "Oh god. Luna. Where.... what happened?"

He felt her slip the package into the pocket of his trousers before her hands came up around his middle, her face pressed to his shoulder as she murmured, "Remus wanted you to have that. You're going to need it."

Standing back, Neville held her by her upper arms and stared. "Remus? He was with you?"

Luna shook her head slowly, her eyes unfocused, her words more disjointed than ever. "Not _with_ me. He was someone that I found. Followed, because _He_ made it my job and..." she paused to rub her hands together. "It... hurts. there's a dark spot where he was and now I'm here and I shouldn't still be. Worse than if they find out I gave it to you. If _He_ finds out." She lifted a hand to Neville's face and tilted her head. "You should stop me, but I know you won't, until we're done. I wish I could See the End and not the in-between. But you'll be fine, you have to be. I don't."

A searing heat suddenly flared in the skin of her palm, and he flinched back even as she yanked her arm back, face ashen. "I have to go."

Neville shook his head, trying to make sense of what she'd said, trying not to let the obivious answer manifest. "No. Which 'He'? What happened?" He reached for her as she made to leave, closing his fingers around her forearm and tugging. "Luna, look at me!"

She did, though the heat coming off of her skin was so intense, he was forced to drop her arm. Setting her splayed hand on his chest, her eyes welled as she murmured, "I'm gone," as the smell of singed clothing fibers wafted up from his jumper.

A shout rose up from the foyer drowning out Neville's saying, "No. Luna, stay." Justin was calling at the top of his lungs for anyone that could hear, which apparently included Ginny thundering downstairs asking what his damn problem was. Neville took his eyes from Luna for an instant, and it was all she needed to turn and bolt down the hall in the opposite direction toward the kitchen.

Torn, Neville hesitated yet again before running after her, stopping dispirited, swearing and shoving his hands into his hair only as the crack of her Disapparition echoed from the back garden wall.

Ginny's voice rose and cut through the house, edged with as much hysteria as Ginny was ever capable of. "Neville?! Where the hell are you?"

He stared into the kitchen for a moment longer before running back to the foyer, still reeling, only to be hit with yet another shock to his system. Justin was crouched and running his wand over Remus' body, looking desperate and swearing under his breath, though how it could be anything but a 'body' was beyond Neville given the visible trauma.

Ginny's voice edged upward, her fingers clenched tightly in the back of Justin's shirt, wand on the door. "How? Christ; God; oh hell," she said, shaking her head, her free hand creeping to cover her face. "How did they even get him here?"

Justin looked up, just as stricken, shaking his head. "He's not... he's gone. And has been for at least an hour or so..." His eyes drifted down to Neville's chest, pointing. "Neville, what? What the fuck is that?"

He didn't have to look to know Luna's handprint was burned into his jumper. And he didn't have to go far at all to put it together and consequently fell directly apart.

###

It hadn't been easy for the four of them to begin with, being stationed (for lack of a better word) at Twelve Grimmauld Place with Remus as the acting leader in Dumbledore's absence. People like Tonks, Kingsley, Bill, McGonagall, and even Snape came in and out and taught them to duel and fight on the way; to brew and plot and heal, and see the world in terms of strategy and see people in terms of combatants. There was no longer Molly to keep her youngest from getting involved, no Gran to keep her grandson from following in his father's doomed footsteps. No Maximillian Lovegood to keep his daughter from following her dangerous Gryffindor friends. No Finch-Fletchleys to stop Justin's turning up at Headmistress McGonagall's doorstep when he survived the attack that killed them.

Harry, Ron and Hermione came and went more infrequently, more often than not bruised and bearing some sort of broken something wrapped in layers over and hidden away, and were gone again after a meal and sometimes a decent night's sleep.

Remus had led them, and they'd had successes and failures as had always been the case, but he seemed to always know what he was doing; always be certain of his convictions and sure of the next step, whether he was or not. He'd wanted to wait until they were ready before sending them out to take any overt action, beginning with sending Ginny and Luna out on a simple reconnaissance because Ginny was the loudest about taking action. From there, there was always something to be done, no matter how small, and though Remus had never failed to look vaguely guilty in giving them orders, they followed.

And now, Justin was taking care of his body as Neville tried and couldn't seem to raise anyone else by Floo. Ginny began writing owls while Justin worked at magically cold-storing the body in the basement until they could get word on what to do next.

Neville couldn't shake the feeling they were the last of the Order. It was impossible, he knew (or at least, hoped), but he felt it.

After she was done writing and charming messages, Ginny had gone into what had been her and Luna's room and broken everything in it from the sounds of it. Justin came up from the basement and disappeared into the room as well, and there was no more noise forthcoming.

Inwardly congratulating them for working out Imperturbables, Neville sat on his bed holding the package that was the only thing he hadn't told Justin and Ginny about yet, finally getting the nerve up to unwrap it. An ornate and obviously very old key fell into his hand, the brown paper wrapping contained a single sentence, written out in Luna's loopy, scrawling hand:

_"It's all in his room and only you can fix it."_

Holding the key in his closed hand, he tapped it to his forehead, taking another breath before standing and carefully making his way to Remus' room to begin a search for the lock that fit.

###

When they found him several hours later, Neville was sitting on the floor in a room that looked as if it had been hit with whirlwhind hexes, several floorboards pulled up. A box sat next to him, half-protruding from the gaping hole in the floor, seemingly filled with smaller boxes and journals. A large book was open on his lap, and the look on his face was unreadable. Ginny took a tentative step into the room, and then another, her hands shoved into the pockets of her jeans as she looked around, Justin on her heels. "Nev?"

Neville looked up at her, his red-rimmed eyes staring. "It could have been me."

"It could have been any of us," Ginny replied, her voice brittle, confused and hurt. "L-- _she_ could have turned on any of us first."

He shook his head violently, determined not to let his heart break again in their presence, and therefore not discuss Luna. "No. This." He held up the book. "It's... They're Remus' notes; detailing the prophecy that ties Harry to Voldemort and his research on it to date. It was going to be either him or me, from the start." Neville snorted bitterly, "Good choice with Harry. Don't seem to do very well for myself as it is."

Ginny furrowed her brow and knelt next to him, peering at the book. "Don't be a git. How-- how did you know they were here?"

Neville's gaze followed Ginny as Justin bent to pick up one of the smaller boxes. "And what are these?"

"Don't!" cautioned Neville, but Justin was already opening the box.

"Oops." Justin muttered. "And yet, the question remains. What the bloody hell is this?"

Dumbstruck, Ginny breathed, "Tom Riddle's diary."

Also staring, Neville blindly pulled a sheet of parchment that he had already studied from under the cover of the book in his lap. "...which would be Horcrux number one."

"Damn it all, Longbottom, don't make me ask again," said Justin as he poked at the punctured and ink-stained journal.

"Vessels for pieces of Voldemort's soul."

Justin dropped the box and jumped back, uselessly wiping his hands on his trousers. "Oh God. How--"

"It's fine. It's been destroyed; there's no soul in it anymore. There were seven in total and that's what Harry, Ron and Hermione are doing. Apparently," Neville pulled another sheet out and handed it to Ginny, Justin crowding in behind her shoulder her for a look, "there's only one to go."

Ginny scanned the parchment and had to clear her throat twice before she could speak. "A letter from Remus?"

Neville nodded. "He left it for any of us in case... in case something happened to him." He didn't bother answering her regarding how he knew, and was glad they were distracted enough that it might not matter. He watched her read it with the same expression that he'd worn the first time through. "I guess he knew he was a target. Not that it was a surprise."

"Holy shit- what happened here?"

Three wands were immediately trained on the new figure in the door, though thankfully the spells had been held back as it turned out to be Bill. Ginny was on her feet in an instant and barrelling into him with a fierce hug, the look that Neville and Justin exchanged said nothing as much as they were tempted to do the same.

Bill held her tightly as he took in the scene. "...Gin? You said you found Remus...? Did he-- what happened?"

###

Neville woke at half-six, as he had done everyday since Luna disappeared, his eyes open and staring at the ceiling and wishing she was curled up next to him, sleeping soundly as she ought to be. Instead, Neville merely pushed away his regrets and fears, focused on getting up, getting dressed and getting on with the business of running a vigilante organization.

It was funny, in retrospect (not that much ever was _actually_ funny any more), how easy it had been for Neville to step up. After all, he'd been at Remus' elbow for the better part of a year now and no one else had even tried or questioned it. He gathered the intelligence, sat down with Ginny and Justin and anyone else he could and formulated plans and carried them out or had them carried out; he hadn't had to deal with Snape and everyone else seemed to be more than willing to continue doing their part.

It hadn't truly hit him however, until the night Harry, Ron and Hermione showed up panting and swearing and throwing the deadbolts behind them just after midnight. Neville ran down the hall from the study, wand drawn. It was his shift to watch, and though the new wards that had been tuned to alerting anyone to Luna's presence hadn't gone off, he'd learned his lesson in caution.

Carefully coming up to the end of the corridor, he relaxed only slightly as he emerged into the foyer. Ron and Hermione stood, backs to the double doors, filthy and bedraggled, some sort of leafy debris caught in Hermione's hair (now chopped short). Harry was standing in the middle of the entryway, scraped and bloodied arm clamped around a bundle of what might have been a heavy brocade stained and splotched dark. His glasses were askew, scar practically glowing red as he scrubbed the inside of his free wrist against the side of his face, barely looking up as Ron slumped to the ground and pressed his palms to his eyes.

Neville pocketed his wand as he rushed forward to take the bundle. "Harry, God. Thank God you're all alive. I'll get Justin. And Gin."

Harry shook his head and Hermione piped up, "We need Remus. Everything else can wait--" Obviously shaken, she automatically began tidying her hair as she continued, "Nev, did you... where's Luna? She's here, isn't she? She is, _right_? She's all right?"

Stomach turning painfully, Neville, looked down at the bundle in his hands. He hadn't had an owl from them; had sent one that had never come back. They had no idea.

Hermione's voice edged upward. "She _is_ here, isn't she?"

Neville shook his head and Harry swore, turning away. Ron looked up and muttered, "that _was_ her. Oh... that's just... fucked."  
  
A blurred shape bolted past him and stopped short, as if not able to decide who to go to first, and now Ginny was standing barefoot in trackies and a t-shirt, hair braided back, ready to move, even in her sleep. A hand descended on Neville's shoulder and he didn't have to look to know it was Justin. Neville straightened his spine and nodded. "She's gone over, we don't know why. Remus-- is gone too. Dead."

Hermione sucked in a hard breath and let herself slide down to the ground too, her fingers reaching out to find Ron's, pinching the bridge of her nose with the other hand. "Are-- are you--" She cleared her throat and nodded, probably more to herself than anything as her mouth set in a prim, stiff expression. "Who's in charge?"

Neville murmured, " _We_ are", but was overrun by both Justin and Ginny saying, "Neville". His eyes snapped to one then the other, blinking, even as Harry spoke.

"Then you know what you're holding. That's the last one." His voice was full of hate and anger barely contained, the lights near the door flickering with every syllable. "We go after Voldemort next."

Ginny's eyes widened, her gaze riveted on the small windows of the double doors. "Or he comes after us."

Ron and Hermione sprang to their feet and the six of them backed unconsciously away from the white light that began to creep up past the windows, glowing brightly through the chinks between the door and the doorframe.

"It's her," muttered Ron, as the doors themselves began to glow white and seemed to bow inward.

Swallowing hard, Hermione said, "Luna knows where to find the house. If she destroys it, the building will cease to exist and then the Secret will no longer be valid, meaning that anyone will be able to see the location."

"Which none of us will care about, since we'll be _dead_ , what with being _inside_ the bloody house being theoretically destroyed," snarled Ginny, wand trained on the doors.

Justin's hand tightened on the shoulder of Neville's shirt as the the light went so bright, they all flinched away, and in the next moment it was gone with no explosion and no sound but a dull thud. Blinking his vision back, Neville muttered, "The house wards must have been too str...ong," trailing off as he caught sight of a sickeningly familiar burnt handprint in the inside of the door.

Ron scrubbed a hand across his face, muttering shakily, "we have _got_ to find a new Headquarters."

###

It was agreed that Harry, Ron and Hermione were to go upstairs and shower, change and eventually try and get some rest while the other three stood watch and tried to come up with a plan. Justin followed them up to take care of their injuries, thankfully few in number. Ginny went ahead to charm towels and warm baths and dust off beds without a single complaint about 'doing the bloody women's work', and Neville slumped into the kitchen to try and come up with food and tea.

As he entered the darkened kitchen, he ran directly into a looming person-shape that seemed to produce a hand from its inky blackness, using it to grab Neville by the collar of his shirt. Neville struggled briefly until he recognized the face bending close over his, and for the first time in long while, he felt his schoolday terror of Professor Snape well up, panic filtering through his mind.

Voice a smooth growl, Snape did not waste words. "Longbottom, it is imperative that you wrap your feeble mind around what I am about to say. The Dark Lord crystallized the entire Malfoy line into Lovegood because she was the one descendant with a hint of the spark."

Neville must have looked as confused as he felt, and Snape shook him slightly, speaking before Neville could ask where he'd been, what was going on-- anything else. "Yes, she's related. She had the barest bit of true Sight, and the Dark Lord sacrificed all remaining Malfoys by blood or marriage to, in essence, taint and then distill their power and latent Sight directly into her."

"But--"

"He controls her because of the way the original curse was cast; it is magic so dark, even I am... not clear as to what it took to cast it. But the only thing that will end it is the death of one or the other. Or both. And given what that girl can do and how unbalanced her mind is, it may be best if it is the latter."

Neville found his fear lessening in direct proportion to his own anger, eyes narrow. "Sod that, _Professor_. Once Voldemort is dead, we'll find a way to deal with it. I'm not giving up on her."

Fatigue and resign evidently warring with annoyance in his eyes, Snape murmured,"Lupin - _Remus_ \- was convinced for some unfathomable reason that you were not nearly as useless and dim as I always found you to be. As of late, you have apparently made an acceptable effort in avoiding the manifestation of such. Do _not_ disrespect his memory by proving him wrong now."

Neville studied the lines of Snape's face, torn, as seemed to be his perpetual state. He set his jaw as Snape went on.

"She will continue to hunt on His behalf until you are all gone. Until _we_ are all gone unless they are stopped. You need to take your cohorts and get out. Gather the remaining Order and prepare for a final battle. Sooner rather than later - once she works out what I've done... I'll do what I can-- the rest is on you." Snape trailed off and straightened, releasing Neville and lifting his own chin, smoothing the front of his robes. "God help us. But I doubt it."

With that, Snape stalked away and out the back door. Neville was discomfited to realize that the prospect of never seeing him again caused less glee than he ever imagined it might.

"Think I've got an idea," Justin said as he strode into the kitchen, momentarily thrown by the lack of light, though upon spotting Neville, kept talking. "How do you feel about Leeds?"

###

Justin's aunt, uncle and two cousins had lived at the Leeds house until not too long ago when they'd left to stay with relatives in the States at Justin's insistence. His parents had refused to go off the bat, but it was their deaths that were the deciding factor in his uncle's ultimate migration of the Leeds Finches. Temporary - Justin promised it would be temporary. Still, the house was empty and currently kept in good repair by a weekly visit from the neighbors down the road a way. Hermione and Justin worked out a series of complex wards and protections, stopping short of a Fidelius charm as none of them had ever cast it, and they didn't know that they had the time for the preparations. There was also the fear that a dead Secret Keeper would leave the Finches out of a home if they ever returned as the secret would be gone forever.

Of course it was entirely possible that if whatever Secret Keeper they could find died, Justin's family wouldn't need it anyway, given the limited number of wizards left fighting for their safety. Perhaps it was a bare remnant of positive thinking.

They slept in shifts in a central location, alarmed and warded, each equipped with emergency Portkeys out to yet another bolthole. It was as safe as it was going to get until they had a break in finding Voldemort. Which might not take much longer, given that Harry had to be kept from rushing out and using himself as bait without more of a plan than 'one-two-three-curse'.

Neville never really slept well anymore, so the morning that Justin ran back into the room they shared shook him awake, he was on his feet before he got more than one or two good ones in.

Harry, Ron and Hermione had been on watch. Justin woke to start the tea and they were gone, not a thing out of place. Justin stared, dumbfounded, hand over his mouth as Ginny swore, certain Harry had gone looking for Voldemort, but Neville was unconvinced. In his experience, people who disappeared just didn't come back alive.

###

Bill stared at Neville, licking his lips, eyes wide, Kingsley's normally stern face visibly ashen just behind him. "We found Snape," he managed as his eyes darted to Ginny, Justin and back. "He-- was in pretty bad shape. He said..." his voice faltered a little and Kingsley's hand crept up to squeeze his shoulder. "Gin. He said they're gone."

Neville blinked, the blood draining from his face as he made what he hoped were the wrong connections. He opened his mouth to speak but Ginny beat him to it. "No," she said, shaking her head violently. "He's always been a hateful bastard and he's lying."

Justin murmured, "Harry, Ron and Hermione."

Nodding, Bill cleared his throat to try again. "Snape-- he said that his _hound_ found them and took them all in one fell swoop. That the Death Eaters are all in terror of his new _Pet_."

Expression pure murder, Ginny said, "Luna? You're talking about Luna? She did it?"

Bill hung his head and this time Kingsley spoke. "Yeah. It was her."

"I see," Ginny said, her voice pitched low, dangerous and dripping with seething rage. Justin set a hand low on her back which she shrugged away hard and took a step toward Kingsley. "All right. It's time to find her. I want scrying spells. I need to get into her things." She pointed at Neville, though her eyes stayed on Kingsley. "I know you kept a lot of them, I need the ones with the most of her in them so we can track her. Kingsley, I need everything we can get our hands on that could possibly put a stop to her. The Darkest Magic we can handle, I need to get into Malfoy Manor, and I know DMLE's got a hold on it. Maybe the library at the Edinburgh H--"

Neville interrupted, his hand coming up to cover his mouth. "It won't matter, Ginny. Not anymore. Without Harry--"

"No-- no, Nev, there were two, remember?" Justin looked up at Neville. "You're the redundancy plan."

Brow furrowed, it was Neville's turn to shake his head. "I'm not the one that was marked. I can't--"

"Weren't you? Who says it had to be physical?" Justin insisted, as Neville stood dumbstruck.

"I c--"

Ginny's eyes fell on Neville as well. "Yes. You _can_ do it. You damn well _will_ do it."

Neville stood under their scrutiny, his insides feeling as if they'd been transmuted to lead, his mind racing. It had come to this then, and there was no giving up. Remus hadn't given up; Harry hadn't given up. It was his turn, then. Facing a clearly confused Bill and Kingsley, he straightened his back despite the weight that settled around his heart. "Gin's right. Get anything you can for all of that by tonight and call in the others. We'll explain."

###

They revealed the prophecy to the remaining Order and just like that, Neville went from the obscure scion of a much-maligned family tree to hard-working sidekick, to the head of the Order of the Phoenix to the Savior of the Wizarding World. Deep down, he didn't know that he was capable of any of it, but he had no choice in the matter. Ginny and Justin and everyone left - they were relying on him. And if Neville thought it was a futile effort, they would never, _ever_ hear him say so.

 

###

One day not so much later, Hestia appeared breathless in the basement of the farmhouse. She'd come from a surveillance and neutralization job and after she caught her breath just barely, she stuttered out information about a pending attack on the Ministry. Neville, Justin and Ginny took all the details they could and put her in charge of gathering the others before heading directly to the Ministry only to find themselves directly in the middle of said attack already in progress.

Ginny was separated from the boys in the fighting as she ran down a pair of Death Eaters rampaging through the Department of Magical Cooperation, evacuating whomever she could before moving on to the Department of Magical Beasts. Locked in a fierce duel, she finally bested a masked figure she didn't get the chance to unmask as Aurors late on the scene were drawn to the explosions and curses. She was prevented from going back in, in fact escorted at wandpoint to the Apparation point and instructed to go home or be detained.

She did not _go home_. Instead, she popped out to the nearest public Apparation point to the Ministry and ran back full-speed to the phone booth entrance. The doors, however would not open, and the Out of Order sign flashed rather rudely when she kicked and hexed it to no avail. Swearing, she tried everything she could to get back in, before finally heading back to the farmhouse, her stomach a sick knot of dread and worry as she shredded her nails and waited in the basement.

Neville came back with a story about Luna that Ginny could not bear to hear. Justin did not come back at all.

###

It would be a mistake to assume that while the Order was being slowly decimated, the ranks of Death Eaters remained untouched. In fact as the war raged on, they suffered increasing casualties that rivaled those of the Order thanks to people like Bill and Kingsley and Hestia, who showed an aptitude for missions that could be politely described as Search, Infiltrate and Neutralize when necessary.

The acronym was a total accident. It was too trite to have been planned, after all.

When Neville found out about their jobs, he had been shocked; pale to the point of collapse at the thought that they were little more than thugs at best, assassins at worst; and yet Remus reasoned that they were a necessary evil. Their information was always the best; their methods a little less than _right_. Guerilla fighters using the elimination of high-ranking Death Eaters that couldn't be legally touched as a method of evening the odds. Neville hadn't bothered to ask if Dumbledore had known-- he didn't want to know.

The clearly delineated line between the Death Eaters and the Order faded a little more every time Neville examined it, and he therefore did not try to do so any more than he had to. He took their information and he gave them ideas where to look next and he reconciled himself to it with thoughts of Luna and Harry and Ron and Hermione whenever he had trouble sleeping.

When Bill and Kingsley found Rodolphus Lestrange, he had no problem with their methods of extracting the Dark Lord's location from him. No problem whatsoever.

###

No one believed Neville later when he said that he couldn't remember exactly how it happened- that it all went by so quickly he didn't have time to be shocked.

What he doesn't remember was that eleven Order members in total showed up at the run-down country estate and infiltrated the grounds with minimal disturbance, dispatching guards and sentries and even house elves without a sound or alarm until the second floor of the house. Ginny and Neville stayed together though the sounds of screaming and hexing and cursing began to rise up around them, and as they burst into the upstairs sitting room with Bill and Kingsley and Hestia at their heels, all it took for Neville to summon the will and intent for a killing curse was the sight of Luna at the end of Voldemort's leash.

The Dark Lord's wand trained on him, pointing and obviously ordering Luna, even as the two filthy words left Neville's mouth.

"Avada Kedavra," was all it took, and though it was partially drowned out in a sea of other curses and hexes surging in a wave from the group at his back, it rang more true than any other. The green jet of light that struck Voldemort sent him flying backward into the stone mantel, and every marked Death Eater collapsed, screaming and digging at their Dark Marks if not outright unconscious.

Luna fixed her gaze on Neville and blinked. "I waited up."

Ginny trained her wand on Luna and hit her with a darker version of a Stunning hex so strong, Luna could only twitch and slump over. Starting forward, Ginny continued to hold the wand on her crumpled form, swearing as she aimed a vicious kick at the slender blonde on the ground. "Av--"

Hands on Ginny's shoulders pulled her away, though she fought them viciously, throwing elbows that failed to connect followed by a backfist that landed squarely on the side of Neville's head. Still, they gained control and held her by the upper arms and Neville growled, "Ginny! GIN! No!"

Strong as the stunning charm had been, Luna rolled with a tiny 'ouch', holding her side as she struggled up onto all fours.

"You. God I'd hoped I'd be the one to find you." Ginny's eyes welled even as she fought Neville. "You were our _friend_ , you fucking crazy _bitch_."

Eyes wide, lip bloodied, Luna's voice was calm, though raspy and broken, barely audible. " _He_ made the fire and it burned me all out."

Ginny's voice crawled up an octave as she finally managed to shake Neville away, swooping down to grasp Luna by the throat and shove her back against the mantel, punctuating every other word with another slam. "Stop it. Stop the mad talk. Stop it. Stop it! STOP--"

"GINNY, NO! No! He's gone now!" Neville shouted as he tugged futilely at Ginny's shaking shoulders. Suddenly Kingsley was there, his own arms closing around Ginny and lifting her away kicking, as if she was some sort of mad wind-up doll.

Kingsley met Neville's eyes and spoke firmly. "What the hell are you doing?"

Neville spoke in a rush. "Snape. Said that V-V-Voldemort would control her until one or both were dead. But--"

Kingsley murmured, "You haven't been wrong yet." Eyes darting to the corpse not five feet away, he added, "But she could kill us all, Neville. I don't care how lost she looks, that girl is a monster."

Ginny writhed and twisted in his grasp, frantic. "She KILLED them, Neville! She killed _Harry_ and _Hermione_ and _my BROTHER_!! She killed them all and she left us and I'm taking it out of her WORTHLESS, FILTHY HIDE."

"I'm not wrong. I know I'm not wrong," Neville said, holding his hand up in a shaky and grossly inappropriate placating gesture.

Luna slumped to the ground, absently stroking the bruises blossoming on her neck above the intricate collar and speaking in a hoarse whisper. "They're not dead. I put them away where they'd be safe. Good as dead to Him. Good as live to you."

Staring, Kingsley held Ginny tightly as she spat, "Liar!" and made as if lunge again.

"Ginny, _listen_ to her," Neville pleaded, his eyes not leaving Ginny until she looked at him, tears streaking down her face. With a vicious shake, she slumped back against Kingsley, narrowing her eyes.

Bill's hand on his arm convinced Kingsley to release his grip on Ginny, who finally succeeded in pulling free and taking a fast step back, beyond words.

"Fine. Then let her kill you too. You _did_ your job, oh _Chosen One_. Why the fuck should anyone care what happens to you now?"

Stung, Neville's lip quivered, though he knew she was purposefully saying the most hurtful thing she could. His eyes were still on Ginny as Luna murmured, "I'm very tired, but I can find them, I think. End the magic, find the first set of heroes. Follow follow the trail, just one more time; one more hunt; but I put them where they are and that makes it easy. Then Ginny can have me, I hope. Because I'm tired of following following."

His chest tightened painfully; it wasn't possible. Harry, Ron and Hermione were dead, Snape had said... He'd spent the weeks being the hero because he'd had to, because they were gone and suddenly his mouth was dry and his face ashen. Neville crept closer to Luna, her currently unfocused eyes not apparently registering the change. Ignoring Ginny's half-hearted, "Neville, don't," he crouched and reached around the back of Luna's neck to fumble with the collar, the closures practically falling apart under his fingers and hot to the touch. Luna didn't react, though Neville and Ginny both winced as pulled it away and the elaborate filigree proved to be burnt into Luna's skin underneath.

Closer scrutiny would have to wait, as Luna's fingers traced carefully the marks and mumbled, "Oh. So that's what it feels like." Her eyes slid slowly to Neville's, brow furrowing slightly as she stretched up to wrap her arms around his neck in an unconscious mirror of the night it had all started. "I'd forgotten how to feel anything that wasn't what He made me feel."

Her weight pressed close broke him and he dropped to his knees, clinging to her, kissing her hair. "It's alright, Luna. We've got you back and it's going to be alright."

"No, Neville," Ginny said as she shook her head and backed away further. "It'll... it can't ever be _alright_. I-- can't... she--"

Luna's hand slid to Neville's as she pulled back a little bit, her free hand moving to cup his face. "You found me." Neville's lip shook, eyes stinging as he leaned into her hand. "I always did think you were the finding kind." A ghost of a smile crossed her face as she whispered, "He said I should take care of them, but he didn't say how, which if you think about it was not a good plan. If he had said 'kill them', I would have had to have obeyed. But I took care of them instead."

Eyes drawn to the activity of her hands, Neville saw that her fingers were closed around the collar, blood seeping from anywhere the sharp edges bit into her skin, smoke rising from the metal. Alarmed, he touched her forearm even as he instinctively drew back. "Luna? Luna, let go--"

"I think you should stand back now," she murmured. "I need to give back some of the people in my head." With that, she shoved him away and brought the collar up in front of face, her eyes never leaving Neville as she spoke low in what didn't sound like any spoken language he'd ever heard, her hands beginning to glow as a tiny whirlwind sprang up and began to surround her. She continued to speak, though her back bowed and arched, the blood from her hands dripping and hitting the stone in front of her bent and scraped knees with sizzling and hissing sounds.

A hand on the back of Neville's sweatshirt hauled him further away, though he had to scramble to go along rather than be dragged, looking up to see Ginny and Bill yanking on him, though Ginny's eyes were on Luna, expression unreadable as she mumbled, "Oh, oh fuck. We're so dead." She raised her wand but Neville slapped it away again just as the collar in Luna's hands shattered into a hundred thousand burning bits of metal and stone, radiating practically a hail of flaming dust that flew out and back and coalesced into a cloud around Luna, now bent backward and seemingly half-suspended in the center. The light around her grew brighter and brighter, and Neville couldn't look away - it was coming from _within_ her now and she became luminescent; translucent as the waves of power roiled through her, the room shaking, the air crackling.

Whorls of color began to form around her in shapes that were almost recognizable, bounding back and forth and around her body as she finally screamed. It was a loud, wrenching, bone-shattering shriek as the brightness increased to fill the entire room and Neville finally had to shut his eyes against the blinding flash of light and heat, pressing his forearm across his eyes. He stayed there for a long moment, unable or perhaps unwilling to look until he heard Ginny breathe a single, tentative word.

"Harry?"

###

"I liked having Harry in my head. And Hermione. She always knew what to do. Also, Narcissa's dreams taste like violets."

Neville's hand drifted around Luna's side, half on his side as his other arm pillowed her head on the soft grass, fingers resting on her shoulderblade. Luna curled into him, her own fingers gripping his shirt tightly as her gaze remained focused on some unknowable distance. It had been no more than two weeks since she'd caused all the power within her to reform into its original owners. Harry, Ron and Hermione, to begin with, confused as the last thing they'd seen was Luna bearing down on them, wand in hand. To end with, all of the Malfoys that Voldemort originally distilled into her - at least all that had been alive at the time of the distillation, meaning Draco, Narcissa and seven other obscure cousins and aunts pure enough in the Malfoy line that were worthy of being hunted and found by Voldemort toward this end.

He couldn't work out how they'd all fit inside her, magic or not, and all she could say was that she had been super-dense, which he still did not understand. So far, though, she hadn't said much more than what she'd had to, and so when Luna spoke, Neville tended to go quiet and listen more intently; to try harder to understand.

"It was hard, being so heavy, though. Now... I feel-- like I could float right up into the sky. I could be a balloon Luna and drift right away."

Tightening his grip further, Neville murmured, "No. Not without me."

Luna turned to bury her face in the crook of Neville's neck, her words muffled. "I shouldn't be here. I shouldn't be anywhere. I ki--"

"No," Neville insisted. "No you didn't."

"You are the only person that will ever forgive me, I know, because it's easier to forgive when you don't believe in the subject of your magnanimity's need of forgiveness. Perhaps even if I _should_ be somewhere, I should not be here."

Neville closed his eyes and murmured into her hair, "We can go anywhere you want."

She looked up at him, her wide eyes boring into him, her index finger pulling at his cheek, encouraging his eye to open and look at her again. "Anywhere?"

Thumb stroking her cheek, he almost smiled as he echoed, "Anywhere." There were too many memories here, even at his own family estate, empty for so long. Too many relationships broken; too many people it hurt too much to look at or be around or near. Too much blood on his own hands to sleep any way but curled around Luna and even then too much fear not to wake over and over to make sure she was still in his arms.

Neville knew he could, and would follow her anywhere.


End file.
